We are very much dependent upon the generosity of our volunteers and those who graciously donate goods or money to our organzation. Your tax deductible contributions go a long way in helping us fulfill our mission.

AmazonSmileWe've partnered with Amazon! AmazonSmile is Amazon's way of allowing its customers to donate a percentage of their purchases to the non-profit organization of their choice. Each time you purchase an item from smile.amazon.com .5% of the purchase cost can be designated to Stepping Stones Riding Program. Just enter "Stepping Stones Riding Program" at the prompt when you first go the web site. This is at NO COST to you! At AmazonSmile you will find the same inventory of items, the same search options and the same checkout procedures as on the regular Amazon site AND you can use your already established Amazon account. It's a win-win-win situation. You get to shop normally, Amazon serves a customer and Stepping Stones receives a donation from Amazon. For more specific information about this program, please go to this link: http://smile.amazon.com/about.

Some donated itemsWhen we do a short walk around our grounds we see the tack room and its mural, the barn, the arena, the Pergola, the hitching post and the myriad of tack within the tack room. Everything we see was either donated as is or was purchased with funds donated by our generous patrons. Items that required assembly and/or painting were assembled and painted by volunteers. By the way, the beautiful mural on the side of the Tack Room is an original painted by the same volunteer who designed our logo, Mr. Arturo Villagomez.
As you might imagine, there are many expenses necessary just in the maintenance of our magnificant animals. Feeding, paying for veterinary services; grounds maintenance such as painting, repair and/or replacement of items to name a few. It truly takes a heck of lot of money to maintain our facilities and to be able to provide the joys of horse riding and care to those who would not otherwise be able to afford it.

Stepping Stones Adds New Sand to the Arena, Thanks to the City of Thousand Oaks Grant.

In December of 2104, we were awarded a Community Enhancement Grant from the City of Thousand Oaks. The grant funds are to be used to replace the sand in our riding arena that has eroded over the past three years due to rain, wind and daily use during our riding lessons. The funds are also to be used to plant native plants around the riding arena to lessen the effects of the natural erosion. On Friday, May 22, we received a beautiful shipment of nice, soft, fresh sand and spread it around the arena. Now our horses will have a bit of a softer, shall I say, gentler surface to provide lessons for our riding students.

We have begun choosing plants appropriate to the area that are also rabbit-resistant and will begin planting them just as soon as we are able. Thank you, Thousand Oaks!

Perhaps the easiest way to help us financially is to participate in one of our community-based fund raisers. We regularly hold fund-raising events which benefit participants as well as Stepping Stones. For example, we recently held a Toppers Pizza night, a Bingo night and a rummage sale. We try to offer activities that are fun for families as well as helpful to us. We are constantly adding new activities so, please visit our Activities page for the latest information. By participating in one of these events, you can have an enjoyable afternoon or evening while helping us.

Of course direct donations of cash are always gratefully accepted. By doing so you can take a direct "donation" credit when filing your income taxes and have your name listed with our other sponsors/donors as well as knowing you have made a material contribution to the maintenance of our proggram. Any amount donated, of course, is fully tax deductable. AND the donor gets the added bonus of warm feelings of having helped a truly worthy organiztion.

Thank You

Donations may be made by cash, check or PayPal. Checks should be addressed to Stepping Stones Riding Program and delivered to either Meaghan Shaffer or Marti Smith as can cash. Individuals wishing to donate using their PayPal account may do so by using this secure link to the Stepping Stones Riding Program Paypal account.